The present invention relates generally to an electrically heated smoking system for receiving an aerosol-forming substrate.
A number of prior art documents, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,671 (commonly owned, the entire contents of which are included herein by this reference thereto), U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,594 (commonly owned, the entire contents of which are included herein by this reference thereto), U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,214 (commonly owned, the entire contents of which are included herein by this reference thereto), U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,368 (commonly owned, the entire contents of which are included herein by this reference thereto), WO2004/043175, EP 0 358 002, EP 0 295 122, EP 1 618 803, EP 1 736 065 and WO2007/131449, disclose electrically operated smoking systems, having a number of advantages. One advantage is that electrically operated smoking systems significantly reduce sidestream smoke, while permitting the smoker to selectively suspend and reinitiate smoking.
Prior art documents, such as EP 0 295 122, EP 1 618 803 and EP 1 736 065, disclose electrical smoking systems which use a liquid as the aerosol-forming substrate. The liquid may be contained in a cartridge which is receivable in a housing. A power supply, such as a battery, is provided, connected to a heater to heat the liquid substrate during a puff, to form the aerosol which is provided to the smoker.
The electrically heated smoking systems of the prior art, including those described above, typically provide a high power pulse to the heater to provide the temperature range desired for operation and to release the volatile compounds for each puff.
The electrically heated smoking systems of the prior art, including those described above, have certain advantages, but there is still room for improvement. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved electrically heated smoking system which offers additional functionality to the smoker.